Help me choose a play to see in NYC...
 

I'd appreciate any suggestions to see a good play while we're in NYC in August. We've seen many in previous trips (Hairspray, Momma Mia, The Produces, Phantom of the Opera).

We want to see Fiddler On The Roof and would like to choose one more. We like musicals and comedys, nothing too heavy. I appreciate your suggestions. Thank you.

Definitely La Cage or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. You will have an easier time getting tickets for those. Your odds of getting tickets to Spamalot or Wicked at this point are practically nil.

Well, if I was in NYC, it would have to be Spamalot. Although perhaps someone who has actually seen it would care to agree/disagree with me!

Alan

I loved Fiddler! The most recent play we saw was "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and it was terrific :D You will certainly laugh!

These all sound like great choices! Thanks, I'll start my ticket search.

BTW, is Harvey Fierstein playing Teyve in Fiddler on the Roof? I thought I had heard this?? We'll be in NYC August 11-16th and curious who does play Teyve.

The Pillow Man with Billy Crudup & Jeff Goldblum -- dark, disturbing, funny. You won't forget it.

I just read somewhere this morning that La Cage is closing.

petlover -

yes, Harvey Fierstein does play Tevye in Fiddler these days. I saw it earlier last month and we (husband and I) really didn't like it. It was a lonnngg 3 hours(!) with a horrible audience. There were tons of empty seats - on a friday evening even.

I've seen it before (never on Broadway) and enjoyed the music and story, etc. I really feel like HF's performance ruins the show. He can't sing. I know he has that crazy voice, but it seems like he makes it even more so for this show and ends up sounding like a muppet monster or something.

I know others who have enjoyed it but I think they saw it before HF came along (who was it before.. Alfred Molina I think..?).

Ohhh, too bad about HF! I saw it with Alfred Molina and he was fabulous.

I cannot even begin to imagine Harvey in that role...of all the Tevyes who have been cast......Still haven't seen Avenue Q, but everyone seems to love it and you may get discount tix, and Spelling B intrigues me.

Along with my bad Fiddler review - I meant to add what we saw and enjoyed! :)

We really liked Avenue Q and Glengary Glen Ross with it's fabulous cast - Liev Shreiber, Alan Alda, etc.

After seeing the Tony's last sunday I'd like to see Dirty Rotton Scoundrels. I thought the number they did on the show was great!

I saw Fiddler about 2 weeks ago and enjoyed it. We had excellent seats which always helps. I don't pay much attention to reviews (plays or movies). Some of my favorite Broadway plays were ones that were hammered.

All Shook Up is another show that hasn't received rave reviews, but we enjoyed it--as did our daughter.

We saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels last Friday night and enjoyed it very much; not necessarily the best music, but surely one of the funniest musicals I have ever seen. Though we had purchased our tickets in advance, I know seats were available at Hot Tix for some performances.

If you liked The Producers, you should enjoy Scoundrels.

La Cage is closing end of June. I loved "Light in the Piazza", and apparently, so did the Tony voters - I think they got 6 awards. It was very memorable.

I'm in total agreement with sks about Harvey Fierstein ruining Fiddler for me. I cringed the minute he opened his mouth. We had great seats, and it still was bad. It was a shame, since this was a show I saw as a child and always loved. Sometimes it's better to keep those old memories!

As for other suggestions, my number one favorite is Wicked. Haven't seen Spamalot, but others say it's great. However, given the popularity of both shows, you might not be able to get tickets at this point. I also strongly recommend Avenue Q. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was also good, but I looked at it as more of a great comedy than a musical. In fact, I thought the music was the weakest part.

I saw a pre-Broadway performance of Spamalot in Chicago and loved it; and it is a musical. Since I had never seen any Monty Python TV, I didn't get a few jokes, but it didn't matter. Heard Wicked is great and have tickets for October. Have fun!

Sorry to hear the disappointment with Fiddler on the Roof. It sounds like if tix sales don't pick up, it will likely close before we arrive in mid August. I can't imagine it hanging around if it's only 1/2 full on weekends.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

HF is not getting the reviews that Alfred Molina did. Alftred Molina was wonderful!

petlover....read Patrick's New York trip report!